Vickipedia

POST-OFFICE, a place for the reception of letters, and the management of the various departments connected with their dispatch and conveyance. The name originated in the posts (from Lat. position, placed, fixed) placed at intervals along the roads of the Roman empire, where couriers were kept in readiness to bear dispatches and intelligence; but the posts of ancient times were never used for the conveyance of private correspondence. The first letter-post seems to have been established in the Hanse Towns in the early part of the 13th century.

A line of letter-posts followed, connecting Austria with Lombardy, in the reign of the Emperor Maximilian, which are said to have been organized by the princes of Thurn and Taxis; and the representatives of the same house established another line of posts from Vienna to Brussels, connecting the most distant parts of the dominions of Charles V. This family continue to the present day to hold certain rights with regard to the German postal system, their posts being entirely distinct from those established by the crown, and sometimes in rivalry to them.

In England, in early times, both public and private letters were sent by messengers, who, in the reign of Henry III., wore the royal livery. They had to provide themselves with horses until the reign of Edward I., when posts were established where horses were to be had for hire. Edward IV-, when engaged in war with Scotland, had dispatches conveyed to his camp with great speed by means of a system of relays of horses, which, however, fell into disuse on the restoration of peace. Camden mentions the office of ‘ Master of the Postes ‘ as existing in 1581, but the duties of that officer were probably connected exclusively with the supply of post-horses. The posts were meant for the conveyance of government dispatches alone, and it was only by degrees that permission was extended to private individuals to make use of them. A foreign post for the conveyance of letters between London and the continent seems to have been established by foreign merchants in the 15th c.; and certain disputes which arose between the Flemings and Italians, regarding the right of appointing a postmaster, and were referred to the privy-council, led to the institution of a ‘ chief-postmaster,’ who should have charge both of the English and the foreign post. Thomas Randolph was the first chief-postmaster of England. The first proper postal communication for private letters in England came into operation 100 years after the institution of the foreign post.

The increased intercourse between the English and Scottish capitals, brought about by King James’s accession, led to a great improvement in the system of horse-posts, but their services were still confined to the conveyance of government dispatches. That king, however, instituted a foreign post for letters going abroad from England, and conferred the office of postmaster of Eng-gland for foreign parts on ‘Mathewe de Quester the elder, and Mathewe de Quester the younger.’ This appointment was considered by Lord Stanhope, the English chief-postmaster, to interfere with his functions, and a dispute and law-plea between the heads of the two establishments was settled in 1632, after Charles I. had become king, by the retirement of Lord Stanhope, and an assignment of their office by the De Questers, under royal sanction’, to William Frizell and Thomas Witherings. In 1635, Witherings was authorized to run a post night and day between London and Edinburgh, ‘to go thither and back again in six days.’ Eight main postal lines throughout England were at the same time instituted, and the post was allowed to carry inland letters. Two years later, a monopoly of letter-carrying was established, which has been preserved in all the subsequent regulations of the post-office. The rates of postage were 2d. for a single letter for a distance less than 80 miles, 4d. up to 140 miles, 6d.. for any longer distance in England, and 8d. to any place in Scotland. An attempt, in 1649, by the Common Council of London to set up a rival post-office for inland letters, was suppressed by the House of Commons. A practice of farming the post-office revenues, which began in 1650, continued, as regards some of the by-posts, till the close of last century.

An important post-office statute was passed under the Protectorate in 1656, and re-enacted by 12 Car. II. c. 35. It ruled that there should be one general post-office and one postmaster-general for England, who was to have the horsing of all through posts and persons riding post. A tariff was established for letters, English, Scotch, Irish, and foreign, and the only non-governmental posts allowed to continue were those of the universities and the Cinque Ports.

In 1685, a penny-post was set up for the conveyance of letters and parcels between different parts of London and its suburbs. It was a private speculation, originating with one Robert Murray, an upholsterer, and assigned by him to Mr. William Docwray. When its success became apparent, it was complained of by the Duke of York, on whom the post-office revenues had been settled, 115 an encroachment on his rights; a decision of the Court of lung’s Bench adjudged it to be a part of the royal establishment, and it was thereupon annexed to the crown. In this way began the London district-post, which was improved and made a twopenny-post in 1801, and continued as a separate establishment from the general post down to 1854.

The first legislative enactment for a Scottish post-office was passed in 1695, prior to which time, the posts out of Edinburgh had been very few and irregular. About 1700, the posts between the capitals were so frequently robbed near the borders, that acts were passed both by the parliament of England and that of Scot-laud, making- robbery of the post punishable with death and confiscation. The post-office of Ireland is of later date than that of Scotland. In the time of Charles L, packets between Dublin and Chester, and between Mil ford-Haven and Waterford, conveyed government dispatches; and after the Restoration, the rate of letter-postage between London and Dublin, was fixed at 6d.

Act 3 Anne, c. 10, repealed the former post-office statutes, and put the establishment on a fresh basis. A general post-office was instituted in London for the whole British dominions, with chief offices in Edinburgh, Dublin, New York, and other places in the American colonies, and one in the Leeward Islands. The whole was placed under the control of an officer appointed under the Great Seal, called the Postmaster-general, who was empowered to appoint deputies for the chief offices. Rates higher than those formerly charged were settled for places in the British dominions, and also for letters to foreign parts. A survey of post-roads was ordered, for the ascertainment of distances. Letters brought from abroad by private ships were ordered to be handed over to the deputy-postmasters of the ports who were to pay the master a penny for each letter. A complete reconstruction of the cross-post system was effected in 1720, by Ralph Alien, postmaster of Bath, to whom the Lords of the Treasury granted a lease of the cross-posts for life : at his death, they came under the control of the postmaster-general. The rates of postage were farther raised by act 1 Geo. III. c. 25, which also gives permission for the establishment of penny-posts in other towns, as in London. The Edinburgh penny-post was instituted in 1766, by one Peter Williamson, a native of Aberdeen, whom the authorities induced to take a pension for the good-will of the concern, and merged it in the general establishment.

Mail-coaches owe their origin to Mr. John Palmer, manager of the Bath and Bristol theaters, who, in 1783, submitted to Mr. Pitt a scheme for the substitution of coaches, protected by armed guards, for the boys on horseback, who till then conveyed the mail. After much opposition from the post-office authorities his plan was adopted, and Mr. Palmer, installed at the post-office as controller-general, succeeded in perfecting his system, greatly increasing the punctuality, speed, and security of the post, and adding largely to the post-office revenue.

In 1837, a plan of post-office reform was suggested by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Rowland Hill, the adoption of which has not only immensely increased the utility of the post-office, but changed its whole administration. Its principal features were the adoption of a uniform and low rate of postage, a charge by weight, and prepayment. The change met with much opposition from the post-office authorities, but was eventually carried by a majority of 100 in the House of Commons, becoming law by 3 and 4 Vict. c. 96. The new system came into full operation on January 10, 1840. Previously to the change, members of parliament had the right of sending their letters free, but this privilege of franking was entirely abolished. A penny was adopted as the uniform rate for every inland letter not above half an ounce. Facilities for prepayment were afforded by the introduction of postage-stamps, and double postage was levied on letters not prepaid. Arrangements were made "for the registration of letters; and the money-order office, by a reduction of the commission charged for orders, became available to an extent which it had never bee;: before. As far back as 1792, a money-order office had been established as a medium for sailors and soldiers to transmit their savings, and its benefit had afterwards been extended to the general public; but the commission charged had been so high, that it was only employed to a very limited extent. The immediate result of the changes introduced in 1840 was an enormous increase in the amount of correspondence, arising in part from the cessation of the illicit traffic in letters, which had so largely prevailed before; but for some years there was a deficit in the post-office revenue. The reduction of postage-rates was, however, a reduction of taxation, and if the Exchequer lost revenue from one source, it gained it in other ways.

With the development of the railway system came the carriage of letters by train instead of by mail-coaches; and one novelty which arose out of this change was the adoption of traveling post-offices, forming part of the mail-train, where letters are arranged during transit, and which sometimes receive and drop the letter-bags while the train is going at full speed. The conveyance of the mails by railroad added greatly to the expenses of the post-office establishment; but, nevertheless, the former gross revenue of the post-office was exceeded in 1851, and the net revenue in 1863. According to the annual report of the postmaster-general for 1880-81, there are 912 head post-offices in the United Kingdom, 13,637 branch offices or receiving-houses, and about 13,160 road or pillar letter-boxes. Above 1176 millions of letters passed through the post-office in 1880-81—more than twice as many as in 1861, and thirteen times as many as in 1839, the last year of the dear postage. In 1880-81, the gross revenue of the post-office, exclusive of that yielded by the telegraphs was £6,733,427; the expenditure, also excluding the telegraphic service, £4,135,659; leaving a surplus of £2,597,768. The number of money orders transmitted within the United Kingdom, in the same year, was 16,329,476; the amount of money transmitted being £24,228,763. This is a decrease on previous years, probably caused by the introduction of postal orders. (See below, under Money Orders.)

The postal service of the three kingdoms is now under the immediate control of the postmaster-general, assisted by the general secretary of the post-office in London. There are also chief officers in Edinburgh and Dublin, with secretarial and other departmental staffs. The postmaster-general is a member of the privy council and sometimes a cabinet minister. He has a salary of £2500, and is the only officer connected with the department who leaves office on a change of government. The secretary is his responsible adviser, and has a salary of £2000. The receiver and accountant-general keeps account of the money received by each department, receiving remittances from branch and provincial offices, and taking charge of the payment of all salaries, pensions, and items of current expenditure.

The surveyors are the connecting link between the metropolitan and provincial offices, each postmaster, with some exceptions, being under the superintendence of the surveyor of his district. In 1881, the staff of officers employed in the post-office, including those engaged in telegraph work, was upwards of 47,000; of this number, about 12,000 were engaged solely in telegraph work, and about 11,000 were employed in Condon alone.

Act 24 Vict. c. 19 instituted a system of savings banks in connection with the post-office. The rate of interest payable to depositors is 2i per cent., calculated on complete pounds and complete months, being a halfpenny per pound month. The number of depositors at the end of 1880 was 2.184,972; the amount of their deposits in the year, £10,219,631; and the number of banks, 6233. A novel extension of this system took place in 1880. Blank forms, with twelve ruled spaces, are now issued to intending depositors, who may secure their penny savings by affixing ordinary postage-stamps to the form. When the twelve spaces are filled, the form is presented at the bank, and credit is given for a shilling.

The Savings-bank Act (1880) permits the investment of small sums in government stocks; in Consols, Reduced, or New 3 per Cents. The sums invested must not be less than £10, and must not exceed £100 in any one year; the total sum for any one investor is limited to £300. The postmaster-general is empowered to insure the lives of applicants for not less than £20 or more than £100, and also to grant immediate or deferred annuities. See post-office insurance.

Halfpenny post-cards were introduced in 1870, and in the first year 75 millions were used. The number in 1880-81 reached 122 millions. The ordinary penny stamp is now a ‘ Postage and Inland Revenue ‘ stamp, and may be used as a receipt stamp.

In 1869 the post-office acquired the existing electric telegraphs. About 30 millions of telegraphic messages were sent in the year ending March 31, 1881. Gross revenue, £1,633,884; working expenses, £1,189,425; net revenue, £444,459.

The home and foreign mail-packet service was, in the 17th and 18th centuries, in the hands of the post-office authorities, but was removed to the Board of Admiralty, under whose control it remained till 1860, when it was again restored to the post-office. Steam-vessels were first used for conveying the mail in 1821; and in 1833, mail-contracts were introduced, the first being with the Mona Steam Company to run steamers from Liverpool to Douglas in the Isle of Man. Of the home mail-packet contracts, the most important are those with the City of Dublin Steam-packet Company for conveying the Irish mails between Holyhead and Kingstown. The principal foreign contracts are for the Indian and Chinese mails, entered into with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation Company, the mails to North and South America, the West Indies, the Australian colonies, and the Cape.

The post-office statute of Queen Anne contains a prohibition repeated in subsequent acts, for any person employed in the post-office to open or detain a letter, except under a warrant from one of the principal secretaries of state. During last century, such warrants were often granted on very trivial pretences. In 1733, at Bishop Atterbury’s trial, copies of his letters, intercepted at the post-office, were produced in evidence against him; and in 1735, it appeared that an organization existed, at an immense expense, for the examination of home and foreign correspondence. In 1782, the correspondence of Lord Temple, when Lord-lieutenant of Ireland was subjected to a system of post-office espionage. In the beginning of the present century, an improvement took place in this matter, and Lord Spencer introduced the custom, in 1806, of recording the dates of all warrants granted for the opening of letters and the grounds on which they were issued.

Since 1822, the warrants have been preserved at the Home Office; and a House of Commons’ return in 1853 shows that, in the preceding ten years, only six letters were detained and opened —four in cases of felony, and two that they might be properly returned to those who claimed them. One of these cases of interference with the privacy of correspondence occurred in 1844, when Sir James Graham, as Home Secretary, issued a warrant for opening the letters of Mazzini, and caused certain information contained in them to be conveyed to the Austrian Minister, an act which involved the ministry of the day in considerable popular obloquy, and produced a wide-spread, though very groundless, distrust of the security of the ordinary correspondence of the country. See GRAHAM, SIR JAMES.

The following is a summary of the most important regulations of the British post-office, reference being made for the minute details to the British Postal Guide.

Inland Letters.—The rates of postage, prepaid, are1d. for a letter weighing not more than 1 oz.; 1 1/2 d. when the weight is 1 oz. and not above 2 oz.; 2d. 2 oz. and not above 4 oz.; 2 1/2 d. 4 oz. and not above 6 oz.; 3d. 6 oz. and not above 8 oz.; 3 1/2 d. 8 oz. and not above 10 oz.; 4 d. 10 oz. and not above 12 oz. A letter exceeding 12 oz. is charged 1d. per oz.; e.g., for a letter weighing 16 oz. the postage is 16d. A letter posted unpaid is charged double postage. Letters insufficiently stamped are charged double the deficiency on delivery. Redirected letters are charged additional postage at the prepaid rate; and this may either be prepaid, or charged on delivery. Letters for officers, soldiers, or seamen on actual service abroad, are redirected without charge, also with several restrictions, at home. By paying 1/2 d. extra postage, letters may now be posted in the boxes attached to mail trains, in which sorting is performed.

No inland letter can be conveyed by post which is more than one foot six inches in length, nine inches in width, and six inches in depth, unless sent to or from one of the government offices.

Registration.—The registration fee of 2d—in addition to the ordinary postage—prepaid in stamps, secures careful treatment to any letter, newspaper, or book-packet, and renders its transmission more secure, by enabling it to be traced from its receipt to its delivery. Letters may be registered for a fee of 2d. to any place in the British colonies, and for various rates of charge to different foreign countries. Letters containing coin, if not registered, are treated as if they were, and charged on delivery with a registration fee of eightpence; the same fee is charged on letters marked ‘Registered’ and posted in the usual way instead of being-given to a post-office servant. If lost, the contents are only made good to the extent of £2.

Foreign and Colonial Letters-—For the rates payable, reference is made to the British Postal Guide. Prepayment must be wholly in stamps. In some cases, prepayment is optional; in others, compulsory; and to some countries the whole postage cannot be prepaid. A letter posted unpaid or partially paid, directed to go by a route by which prepayment is compulsory, is returned to the writer, unless there be another route to send it by, by which prepayment is not required. Letters, however, for Australia and New Zealand, if prepaid as much as one rate, are forwarded, charged with the deficient postage and an additional rate. Letters for the Cape of Natal posted unpaid (wholly or in part), in addition to the deficient postage are charged 6d. each. Those for St. Helena and British West Indies, not included in the General Postal Union, are charged 1s. each in addition to the deficient postage. No letter for any foreign country may be above two feet in length or one feet in width or depth.

Letters to be sent by private ship must be so marked; their postage varies from 21/2 d. upwards for half an ounce, and prepayment is obligatory in some cases, and in others not.

Letters to passengers on board the American or Mediterranean packets must be registered, and must be addressed to the care of the commander of the packet.

The post-office monopoly is applicable to letters only; and it does not include letters sent specially by private messenger, or letters concerning goods or merchandize sent to be delivered along with the goods which they concern.

Newspapers.—In 1870, the impressed duty stamp was abolished; and now, any newspaper published at intervals not exceeding seven days, and on a sheet or sheets unstitched, and registered at the General Post-office, is transmissible by post within the United Kingdom at a postage of one halfpenny for each transmission. The postage must be prepaid, either by an adhesive stamp or by a stamped wrapper. A packet of newspapers is not chargeable at a higher rate than a book packet—namely, one halfpenny for every 2 oz. or fraction of 2 oz. The cover, if there is one, must be open at both ends, and such that the packet can be easily removed for examination. There must be no writing outside or inside, except the address of the person to whom the newspaper is sent. Registration for inland circulation includes registration for transmission abroad. Newspapers for foreign countries and the colonies are subject to the same general regulations as for inland circulation, except that they may be published at intervals of thirty-one days, and printed on sheets stitched together. They must be posted within eight days from the day of publication.

Parliamentary Proceedings.—The printed proceedings of parliament, with the words ‘Parliamentary Proceedings’ written or printed on the cover, may circulate throughout the United Kingdom at the rate of one halfpenny for every 2 oz. or fraction of 2 oz. Prepayment is optional. Parliamentary notices may be forwarded by post under certain regulations and restrictions, the postage chargeable, and a registration fee of 60!., being payable in stamps.

Book-post.—This branch of the post-office was first established in 1848, and further improved by regulations issued in 1855,1857, and 1870. The postage is now one halfpenny for every 2 oz. or fraction of that weight. A book-packet may contain books, paper, or parchment, whether plain, or written, or printed upon (provided there be nothing of the nature of a letter); maps, prints, &c. (but not in glass frames). Circulars, when wholly or in great part printed or lithographed, may also be sent by book-post, singly or in packets. The postage must be pre-paid by adhesive stamps, or by a stamped wrapper; if not prepaid, the packet is charged double the book-postage; if not sufficiently prepaid, it will be charged double the deficiency. If there is a cover, it must be open at the ends. No book-packet must exceed 5 lbs. in weight; it must not be over 1 foot 6 inches in length by 9 inches in width and 6 inches in depth; nor must it contain anything sealed against inspection. An entry on the first page of the book stating who sends it, or to whom it is given, is allowed. In order to secure the return of book-packets that cannot be delivered it is recommended to have the names and addresses of the senders written or printed outside. No writing in the way of a letter or communication is allowed; if any such communication be found within a packet, the whole will be charged the unpaid letter rate, and forwarded. The book-post has been extended to the colonies and to foreign countries at valuing rates.

Colonial and Foreign Pattern and Sample Post.—This post extends to most colonies and foreign countries, at rates corresponding with those for book-packets. It is restricted to bona-fide trade patterns or samples of merchandise. Goods sent for sale, or in execution of an order (however small the quantity may be), or any articles sent by one private party to another which are not actually patterns or samples, are not admissible. The patterns are to be sent in covers open at the ends or sides; but samples of articles which cannot be placed in open covers, may be inclosed in transparent bags. Such articles as knives, scissors, &c., may be sent to places abroad, except France and the French colonies, provided they are so packed as to do no damage.

Post-cards, bearing a halfpenny impressed stamp, are transmissible within the United Kingdom. On the stamped side, the address alone is to be written. On the other side, any communication may be written or printed. .Reply post-cards, which were introduced in 1882, allow the sender to prepay the reply. Foreign post-cards cost Id. and lid.

The Parcels Post Act, passed in 1882. provides for the carriage of small parcels within the United Kingdom at the following rates: For parcels not exceeding 1 lb.—3d.; 3 lbs.—6d.; 5 lbs. —9d.; 7 lbs.—1s.

Money Orders.—Inland money orders may be obtained at any of the post-offices of the United Kingdom, on payment of the following commission : For sums under 10s.—2d.; for 10s. and under £2—3d.; for £2 and under £3—4d.; for £3 and under £4— 5d.; and so on, up to £9 and under £10—11d.; £10—1s. Money orders may now be issued to the colonies, to most European countries, the United States, Egypt, &c., the commission being about three to four times the above rate. In applying for a money order, the surname and initial, at least, of one Christian name of the sender, and the name of the person to whom payable, must be given; but the designation of a firm will suffice, and the name of the person to whom the order is payable may be withheld, if it is to be paid through a bank.

A money order in the United Kingdom becomes void if not presented for payment before the end of the twelfth calendar month after that in which it was issued. Orders drawn on France or Italy must be paid within three months. The lower rates for inland money orders entail a loss on each transaction. Provision was further made for the issue of ten classes of ‘ postal notes ‘ for small fixed sums, under Mr. Fawcett’s Post-office (Money Orders) Bill of 1880.

Any person with a fixed residence may have a private box at the post-office on paying an appointed fee; but in no other case can a resident have his letters addressed to the post-office. See poste restante.

Letters containing anything liable to injure the contents of the mail-bag are not allowed to be sent by post. This comprehends glass in any form, vessels containing liquids, meat, fruit, explosives, sharp instruments, &c.

Telegrams.—The charge for the transmission of messages by telegraph throughout the United Kingdom is 1s. for the first twenty words, and 3d. for each additional five words, or part of five words. Press telegrams cost 1s. for 100 words by day, and for 75 by night.

The Universal Postal Union-—In October, 1874, a conference at Berne resulted in the establishment of the ‘ General Postal Union,’ embracing the European countries, with Egypt and the United Sates, and resulting in a great simplification of international postal arrangements. This was followed in June 1878 by the treaty of Paris, signed or subsequently adhered to by all the parties to the former treaty, with the addition of British India, the colonies of France, Spain, Holland, and Portugal, various British colonies, Persia, Japan, Liberia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, &c., the new convention receiving the name of the ‘ Universal Postal Union.’ Under this important treaty, all the consenting nations were declared to be ‘a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence.’ Equal rates, weights, and rules are established, and considerable reductions of postage have followed its adoption. Except in the case of lengthy sea transit, a uniform rate of 25 centimes (2 1/2 d.) is adopted for a letter of 15 grammes (1/2 oz.); of ten centimes (1d.) for post-cards; of five centimes (1d.) for packets of print, &c., of 50 grammes (2 oz.); and of 25 centimes (2 1/2 d.) for registration in Europe, and 50 centimes (5d.) for registration beyond Europe.—See Her Majesty’s Mails, by Lewins; the Postmaster-general’s Annual Reports; Martin’s Statesman’s ‘ Year Book; Life of Sir Rowland Hill; and the History of Penny Postage, by Sir R. Hill and a. B. Hill (1880).

PO’SSET, a dietetic preparation, made by curdling milk with some acidulous liquor, such as wine, ale, or vinegar. White wine or sherry is usually preferred, but sometimes old ale is used. The milk is boiled; and whilst it is still on the fire, the acidulous matter is added; if sherry, about a wine-glassful and a half to the pint of new milk is the proportion; or twice the quantity if ale. A teaspoonful of vinegar or of lemon-juice is sometimes used instead; one or two tablespoonfuls of treacle are added, to sweeten. Taken at bedtime, it is used for colds and coughs.

TASTE, organ and sense of. The principal seat of the sense of taste is the mucous membrane of the tongue, in which dissection reveals a cutis or chorion, a papillary structure, and an epithelium. Of the cutis, it is sufficient to remark that it is tough, but thinner and less dense than in most parts of the cutaneous surface, and that it receives the insertions of the intrinsic muscles of the tongue, which will be described when we treat of that organ generally. The papillary structure differs from that of the skin in not being concealed under the epithelium, but in projecting from the surface like the villi of the digestive canal, and it thus gives to the tongue its well-known roughness. The Epithelium (q. v.) is of the scaly variety, as on the skin, but is much thinner on the tongue than on the skin. It is most dense about the middle of the upper surface of the tongue, and it is here that, in disordered digestion, there is the chief accumulation of fur, which in reality is simply a depraved and over-abundant formation of epithelium. The papillæ on the surface of the tongue are either simple or compound. The former, which closely resemble those on the skin, are scattered over the whole surface of the tongue in parts where the others do not exist, and they likewise participate in the formation of the compound papillæ, which, from their forms, are respectively termed (1) the circumvallate or calyciform, (2) the fungiform, and (3) the conical or filiform.

The circumvallate papillæ are not more than eight or ten in number, and are situated in the form of a V at the base of the tongue. Their function seems to be to secrete mucus, as well as to take part in the act of tasting. They consist of ‘ a central flattened projection of the mucous membrane of a circular figure, and from 1/20th to 1/12th of an inch wide, surrounded by a tumid ring of about the same elevation.’—Todd and Bowman, Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man, 3d ed. vol. i. p. 437. They are shown in the figure of the surface of the tongue given in the article on that organ.

The fungiform papillæ are scattered over the surface in front of the circumvallate papillæ, and about the sides and apex. They are usually narrower at the base than at the apex, where they are about 1/30th of an inch in diameter. They are covered with simple or secondary papillæ, and their investing epithelium is so thin that the blood circulating in them gives them a red color, which is not seen in the conical papillæ amongst which

they are distributed. They contain nerves terminating in loops. The shape of the conical or filiform papillæ is indicated by their names; and even if they take little part in the sense of taste directly, it is convenient to describe them here. Their average length is about 1/10th of an inch. The structure of these papillæ will be better understood from the accompanying diagrams than from any verbal description. They terminate in long pointed processes, which are bathed by the mucus of the mouth, and are capable of moving in any direction, although they are generally inclined backwards.

Some of the stiffer of these epithelial processes enclose minute hairs, of which several forms are depicted by Messrs. Todd and Bowman, from whose Physiological Anatomy all the figures in this article are borrowed. These authors surmise, on structural grounds, that the filiform papillæ ‘ can scarcely share in the reception of impressions which depend on the contact of the sapid material with the papillary tissue.

The comparative thickness of their protective covering, the stiffness and brushlike arrangement of their filamentary productions, their greater development in that portion of the dorsum of the tongue which is chiefly employed in the movements of mastication, all evince the subservience of these papillæ to the latter function rather than to that of taste; and it is evident that their isolation and partial mobility on one another must render the delicate touch with which they are endowed more available in directing the muscular actions of the organ. The almost manual dexterity of the tongue in dealing with minute particles of food is probably provided for, as far as sensibility conduces to it, in the structure and arrangement of these papillæ.’—Phys. Anat. and Phys. of Man, vol. i. p. 441. Notwithstanding the difference in their outward form and mode of arrangement, the simple papillæ, which have been detected by Todd and Bowman as scattered over the whole dorsum of the tongue (although concealed under the common sheet of epithelium), and those clothing the circumvallate and fungiform papillæ, do not seem to present any structural difference; and their epithelium, which is very thin, readily permits the transudation of sapid substances dissolved in the mucus of the mouth. With regard to the use of the singular configuration of the circumvallate and fungiform papillæ, ‘ it may be conjectured that the fissures and recesses about their bases are designed to arrest on their passage small portions of the fluids in which the sapid materials are dissolved, and thus to detain them in contact with the most sensitive parts of the gustatory membrane.’ —Op. cit-, p. 441.

There has been much discussion regarding the precise seat of the sense of taste and the true nerves of taste. Although the surface of the tongue is the special seat of gustative sensibility in man, the sense of taste is by no means restricted to that organ, being diffused, in a less degree, over the soft palate, the arches of the palate, and the fauces. Moreover, the gustative sensibility varies on different parts of the surface of the tongue. It is generally allowed that acute taste ‘ resides at the base of the tongue, over a region of which the circumvallate papillæ may be taken as the center, and also on the sides near the base. These parts are supplied solely by the glossal twigs of the glosso-pharyngeal nerves. Some writers, amongst whom are Valentin and Wagner, believe the middle and anterior parts of the dorsum of the tongue to be usually incapable of appreciating flavor; while numerous others hold the contrary opinion, with which our own careful and repeated experiments, on other persons as well as ourselves, quite accord. Sour, sweet, and bitter substances applied to the sides, and especially to the tip of the protruded tongue, we find to be at once distinguished; though, when placed on the middle of the dorsal region, they make little or no impression till pressed against the roof of the mouth. This region of the tongue is supplied almost solely by the lingual branch of the fifth nerve. We conclude generally, with regard to the tongue, that the whole dorsal surface possesses taste, but especially the circumferential parts, viz., the base, sides, and apex.’—Op. cit., pp. 442, 443. The investigations of Messrs. Todd and Bowman further show that the soft palate and its arches are endowed with taste in some persons, but not universally, while they got no evidence in any case of gustative sensibility on the pharynx, gums, or elsewhere. The soft palate and its arches are supplied by palatine brandies from Meckel’s ganglion, and sparingly by the glosso-pharyngeal nerves. Prom (1) the evidence afforded by the anatomical distribution of the nerves to parts enjoying the sense of taste, (2) the evidence of experiments, in which the various nerves of the tongue were divided, and (3) the evidence afforded by disease, it may be safely inferred that the glosso-pharyngeal and the lingual branches of the fifth pair of nerves respectively participate in the sense of taste; and there is also reason to attribute a share to the palatine branches of the fifth.

Impressions of taste may be produced by a mechanical or chemical excitement of the gustatory nerves. A quick light tap of the finger on the tip of the tongue causes a taste, sometimes acid, sometimes saline, which lasts for several seconds; and galvanism acts similarly. If the surface of the tongue, near the root, be touched with a clean dry glass rod, or a drop of distilled water be placed upon it, a slightly bitterish sensation is produced; and if the pressure be continued, a feeling of nausea ensues. If a small current of cold air be directed against the tongue, it excites a cool saline taste like that of saltpetre. From the experiments of E. H. Weber, it appears that one of the conditions requisite fertile due exercise of the sense of taste is a temperature not departing far on either side from the natural standard. Thus, if the tongue be immersed for a minute in water at a temperature of 125°, or in iced water, the taste of sugar, &c., is no longer perceived. In order that sapid bodies should cause taste, it is necessary that they should be dissolved, and made to permeate the tissue of the papillæ, so as to come in contact with their nerves. This is proved by the two following facts: 1st, that every substance, whether solid, fluid, or gaseous, which possesses a distinct taste, is more or less soluble in the fluids of the mouth, while substances which are perfectly insoluble are only recognized by the sense of touch; and 2d, that if the most sapid substance be applied in a dry state to a dried part of the surface of the tongue, no sensation of taste is excited. Bitters and acids appear to be the most sapid bodies, since they may be diluted to a greater extent than any other known substances without ceasing to excite sensations of taste. Thus, according to Valentin, 1 part of extract of aloes, or of sulphuric acid, in 900,000 of water, and even 1 part of sulphate of quinia in 1,000,000 parts of water, may, with ease, be distinguished from perfectly pure water.

‘ The contact of a sapid substance,’ says Dr. Carpenter, ‘much more readily excites a gustative sensation when it is made to press upon the papillæ, or is moved over them. Thus there are some substances whose taste is not perceived when they are simply applied to the central part of the dorsum of the tongue, but of whose presence we are at once cognizant by pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth. The full flavor of a sapid substance, again, is more readily perceived when it is rubbed on any part of the tongue, than when it is simply brought in contact with it, or pressed against it. Even when liquids are received into the month, their taste is most completely discriminated by causing them to move over the gustative surface : thus, the ‘ wine-taster’ takes a small quantity of the liquor in his mouth, carries it rapidly over every part of its lining membrane, and then ejects it."—Principles of Human Physiology, 6th ed. p. 621. Most sapid substances affect the nerves of smell to a greater or less degree, as they pass down the throat; and it is this compound of taste and smell that constitutes flavor. It is a common habit to hold a child’s nose when he is taking a nauseous draught, with the view, as is supposed, of deadening the taste. The efficacy of the process depends upon the exclusion of smell, and the reduction of the flavor of the medicine to its mere taste. The agreeable sensation produced by sipping good wine is due to what is termed its bouquet, or, in other words, to its flavor, or combined taste and smell. Some substances leave a taste in the mouth very different from that which they first produced. This after-taste is usually bitter; but in the case of one of the most bitter substances known, namely, tannin, it is sweet. This connection seems, in a degree, to correspond to the complementary colors in vision.

THEATERS, LAWS AS TO. In Great Britain all theaters must be licensed, either by virtue of letters patent from Her Majesty, or by license from the Lord Chamberlain for the time being, or from justices of the peace. The Lord Chamberlain grants licenses to all theaters (not being patent theaters) within the English metropolis, and within the places where Her Majesty occasionally resides, except New Windsor and Brighton. For every license of the Lord Chamberlain, a fee not exceeding 10s. per month is charged. In other parts of Great Britain, the justices of the peace I of the county, city, or borough must be applied to for a license; and after the usual notice, they hold a special session, for the purpose of granting licenses to theaters, the fee payable being a sum not exceeding 5s. per month. It is only to the actual and responsible manager of the theater that a license can be granted, and his name and place of abode must be printed on every play-bill. The manager must find sureties to observe the rules issued by the Lord Chamberlain and justices, which rules relate to the days and hours of keeping open, and the insuring of order and decency. A penalty of £10 is imposed, by statute 6 and 7 Vict. c. 68, on any actor or manager concerned in unlicensed places.

A copy of every new play, epilogue, or prologue, or alteration lot the same, intended to be produced at any theater in Great Britain, must be sent to the Lord Chamberlain, by the manager, seven days before such production; and for examination of such plays and alterations of plays, he may charge fees not exceeding ten guineas, according to a scale fixed by him. He may forbid the acting of any play, whenever he considers it to be fitting to the preservation of good manners, decorum, or the public peace, to do so. To act a play not allowed or disallowed, subjects each actor and manager to a penalty of £50. It has been decided by the courts, that a booth used as a temporary or portable theater requires a license, and that any dualogue or dramatic performance by two persons is a stage-play, and therefore subject to the license, Of late, the policy of placing the theaters so entirely under the control of the Lord Chamberlain and justices has been disputed, especially as the increasing practice of introducing theatrical performances at public supper-rooms has led to some vexatious prosecutions at the instance of the licensees of regular theaters.

THE’ATER, a place for public representations, chiefly of a dramatic or musical description. Theaters are of very ancient origin. They were found in every Greek city, both at home and in the colonies, and many very interesting specimens of the Greek theaters still exist in very good preservation. These were not built like modem theaters, with tiers of galleries rising one over the other, but were constructed with concentric rows of seats rising in regular succession one behind and above the other like the steps of stairs. These seats were frequently cut in the solid rock; and a place where the natural curve and slope of the ground rendered such excavation easy, was generally chosen. The seats, or audience department, were arranged in a semicircular form. In the center, at the lowest point, stood the orchestra; and the proscenium, or place for the dramatic representation, formed the chord of the semicircular auditorium. Behind this was the scena, closing in the building with a solid wall, generally ornamented with pillars, cornices, &;c. There was no roof, but the audience was probably protected from the sun’s rays by a curtain stretching across the theater. This form of theater was also that adopted by the Romans, who built or excavated large theaters in many of their important towns. The theaters of the Romans differed from their Amphitheaters (q. v.), the former being semicircular, the latter oval, and with seats all round. Of the theaters still remaining, that of Orange, in the south of Prance, is one of the finest. tli6 auditorium being 340 feet in diameter. The illustration (fig. 1) shows the general form of these ancient theaters; and in this case the scena is more elaborate than usual. During the middle ages, theaters were unnecessary, and were never built. The few dramatic performances then in use, which were chiefly of the nature of holy mysteries, were represented in the cathedrals. From the remains still existing, however, there would seem to have been large open-air theaters at an early age in this country. Of these, Piran Round in Cornwall is the best example. It is circular, with raised platforms all round for spectators, after the manner of the Greek theaters.

With the revival of classical literature in the 16th c., the classical drama was also reproduced, and naturally along with it the classical form of theater. The first specimens of what may be called modern theaters (although founded on the old Greek model, according to Vitruvius’s description) were the Theatre Olympico, erected by Palladio in Vicenza; a similar one in Venice, also by Palladio ; and another in Vicenza, by Serlio. In Italy and Spain, open courtyards, with galleries round them, were at first the scenes of dramatic performances. In France and England, where the climate did not so readily admit of open-air representations, the first plays performed were exhibited in tennis or racket courts, in which there were usually galleries at one end; and as this accommodation was found too limited, these were afterwards carried along the sides also. But dramatic literature soon became so important that buildings had to be designed for the express purpose of its representation. Accordingly, in Paris, the theater of the Hotel de Bourgogne was erected in the beginning of the 17th century. It was rebuilt 1645, with tiers of boxes on a square plan. In 1639. the theater of the Palais Royal was erected by Richelieu, and was long considered the best model. The present circular plan of the galleries, with pit sloping backwards, seems to have been first introduced in Venice in 1639; and the horse-shoe form of the boxes was first carried out by Fontana in the Tordinoni Theater at Rome, in 1675. The modern form of the auditorium was thus invented, and gradually improved and perfected, till in about a century similar theaters were erected all over Europe; the Scala Theater at Milan, the largest in Italy, and the great theater at Bordeaux, being built, the former in 1774, and the latter in 1777.

The annexed plan of the Scala Theater at Milan (fig. 2), will show the general disposition of all the parts of the modern theater on the largest scale. Modern theaters are all very similar in their general distribution. They are divided into two distinct departments—viz., the auditorium or audience department, and the stage or scenic department. In the former, the seats are invariably arranged on a sloping ground-floor or ‘ pit;’ and on several tiers of galleries, extending in a semicircular or horse-shoe form round the house. On the ground-floor, the front rows of seats are generally set apart as ‘ dress stalls,’ and the back part only is then called the ‘ pit.’ In opera-houses, the stalls generally occupy the greater portion of the space, and the ‘ pit’ is reduced to a minimum. In dramatic theaters, the tiers of galleries have the floors arranged in stages, rising above one another in such a manner as to enable the spectators all to see over those before them to the front of the stage. In theaters for operatic representation, the galleries have the floors laid level, and are divided all round into private boxes. The top tier is, however, sometimes left partially open, and has the seats on stages. In the larger opera-houses, there are usually retiring-rooms connected with each of the private boxes. There is also a ‘ crush-room,’ or large saloon, in which the audience may promenade between the acts.

In all French theaters and opera-houses, these saloons, or foyers, are very large, and elegantly fitted up. They are almost always over the entrance-hall. In some of the modern French theaters, there are two foyers, one over the other, for the different classes who occupy the dress circle and the upper galleries. The question has often been raised as to the best form for a theater, both for hearing and seeing. It is a most difficult question to decide theoretically as regards hearing, but it is quite clear that the old semicircular plan of the Greeks is as nearly as possible the test for seeing, as it places the seats all round at an equal distance from the center of the proscenium; and therefore we find, in cases where seeing well is all-important, as, for instance, in a lecture theater, this old form is usually adopted. In an oblong-house, on the other hand, the seats at the center of the galleries ire much further removed than those at the sides from the center of the stage, and are thus at a disadvantage as regards hearing; while the side boxes are badly placed for commanding a view of the stage. The entrances and staircases of theaters are not generally so well arranged or so spacious as they should be. In French theaters, this is especially the case. In these, there is often only one narrow wooden stair on each side of the house, leading to all the galleries. Recent accidents by fire, and the risk the audience runs in case of want of proper exits, have drawn attention to this subject, and the legislature will probably determine that there must be a separate, wide, and easy stair to gallery—as, indeed, there usually now is in theaters recently built in this country. For large galleries, these stairs should be least six feet wide; and a strong iron hand-rail down each side the stair would be found useful in case of a panic, to prevent a fatal crush. Besides the main passages for the use of the public, there ought to be private passages and doors leading to every part of the house, so that the manager may pass with ease to any point in the audience where his presence may be required.

The orchestra occupies the space immediately in front of the proscenium, and this space is arranged so as to be capable of being enlarged or contracted as occasion may require. The proscenium is a small portion of the stage which projects a few feet in front of the curtain, so as to enable the actors to stand well forward, that they may be distinctly heard by the audience. The part of the house on either side of the proscenium is that on which there is usually the greatest amount of ornament. The sides and ceiling of the proscenium form, as it were, the frame through which the picture represented on the stage is seen; and as on it every eye must rest, it is made more ornate than the rest of the auditorium. The ceiling, presenting as it does a large broad surface, and being well seen from many parts of the house, also a place well adapted for ornament, and is generally made as handsome as possible. The same remark applies to the fronts of the dress circle and galleries. The stage extends backwards from the proscenium, and ought to be of considerable depth, so as to admit of the scenic effects, dissolving scenes, &c., now so much run upon. The great length of the stage from front to back is one of the most striking differences between the modern and the ancient theater, and arises entirely from the introduction and development of movable scenery—an invention of the architect Baldassare Peruzzi, and first used in Rome before Leo X., in 1508. The floor of the stage is not laid level like the floor of a room, but is sloped upwards from front to back, so as to elevate the performers and scenes at the back, and render them more easily seen. The inclination of the stage is generally about half an inch to every foot. The stage department of a theater not only requires to be very long, but also very lofty above, and deep below the stage, so as to allow the large frames on which the scenes are stretched to be raised or lowered in one piece.

The stage itself is a most complicated piece of mechanism, a considerable part of it being made moveable either in the form of traps, for raising or lowering actors, furniture, &c., or in long-pieces, which slide off to each side from the center, to allow the scenes to rise or descend. There are also bridges, or platforms constructed for raising and lowering through similar openings, some of them the full width of the stage. The traps and bridges are almost all worked by means of balance-weights, and the slides by ropes and windlasses. Besides the large frames above described as containing pictures occupying the full opening of the stage, there are other scenes which are pushed from the sides to the center, each being only one half the width of the opening. These are called flats, and usually slide in grooves above and below. The grooves are arranged in clusters at intervals, having" clear spaces between, called the entrances, through which the actors pass on and off the stage. But in modern French theaters and in the opera-houses—such, for instance, as Covent Garden Theater—these grooves are regarded as an encumbrance to the stage, and are entirely done away with. Their place is occupied by narrow openings or slits in the stage, below which are blocks running on wheels, and containing sockets, into which poles are dropped from above, and to these the flats are attached. Another advantage of this system is, that the gas-wings and ladders may be made movable, and slip backwards and forwards in the same manner as the flats. When occasion requires, the whole stage can thus be entirely cleared.

According to the old plan of fixed grooves, only the center of the stage can ever be cleared without unscrewing all the grooves, and the gas-wings must always remain in the same relative position. Besides the flats, there are also smaller scenes which move in the grooves. These are called wings, and are used to screen the entrance. Corresponding to the wings are similar narrow scenes dropped from above : these are called borders, and are used to hide the gas-battens. These and the scenes which are drawn up, the gas-battens, &c., are all worked by means of ropes from the flies, or galleries running along the sides of the stage at a high level. The ropes from these passing up into the barrel-loft (a, space in the roof filled with large drums and barrels on which the ropes are coiled) and down again to the flies, form a complication which seems to the uninitiated observer an inextricable mass of confusion. While such is the usual arrangement connected with movable scenery, it is to be noted that latterly a very great change has been introduced into the higher class of theaters. This change consists in the dismissal of wings or sliding side portions of scenes with intervening gaps, and substituting for them large pieces of scenery resembling the sides and further end of a room—an arrangement every way more natural. In cases of this improved kind, the actors enter on the stage and depart by doors. In connection with the stage, it is usual to have a large space set apart for containing scenery, called the scene-dock.

This is frequently placed at the back of the stage, and may, on occasion, be cleared out, to give extra depth to the scene. There are also numerous apartments required in connection with the stage for the working of the theater—such as manager’s room; dressing-rooms for the actors and actresses; the ‘green-room,’ in which they assemble when dressed, and wait till they are called; ‘ star-rooms,’ or dressing-rooms for the stars; the wardrobe, in which the costumes are kept; furniture stores, scene stores; ‘ property’-maker’s room; and workshops for the carpenter, gas-man, &c. There must also be a good painting-room, which must necessarily be a large apartment, from the size of the pictures which have to be painted—each being the full size of the opening of the stage. The canvas for these scenes are stretched on frames, which move up and down by means of a winch with balance-weights; and thus the painter stands comfortably on the floor, and moves his picture up or down, so as to get to any part he wishes. An interesting point on the stage is the prompt corner, from which the prompter has command of all the lights of the house, and bells to warn every man of his duty at the proper moment. He has a large brass plate, in which a number of handles are fixed, with an index to each, marking the high, low, &c., of the lights; and as each system of lights has a separate main pipe from the prompt corner, each can be managed independently. The side of the house on which the prompter is seated is called the ‘ prompt side,’ and the other side is called the ‘ O. P.’ or opposite side.

The house, or auditorium department, is generally lighted by means of a large lustre or sun-light in the center of the ceiling, and much of the effect of the building depends on how this is managed. There are also usually smaller lights round one tier of the boxes at least. The proscenium is lighted by a large lustre on each side, and by the foot-lights, which run along the whole of the front of the stage. These are sometimes provided with glasses of different colors, called mediums, which are used for throwing a red, green, or white light on the stage, as may be required. The stage is lighted by rows of gas-burners up each side and across the top at every entrance. The side-lights are called gas-wings, or ladders; and the top ones, gas-battens. Each of these has a main from the prompt corner. They can be pushed in and out, or up and down, like the scenery. There is also provision at each entrance for fixing flexible hose and temporary lights, so as to produce a bright effect wherever required. The mediums for producing colored light in this case are blinds of colored cloth. Another means of producing brilliant effects of light is the lime-light, by which, together with lenses of colored glass, bright lights of any color can be thrown on the stage or scenery when required.

Theaters are usually either very cold or insufferably hot. This arises from want of proper means of heating, and insufficient ventilation. The center lustre is the great cause of ventilation, the draught caused by its heat drawing off the foul air at the ceiling. The suction caused by this withdrawal of air is naturally supplied from the great body of air in the stage. The stage ought, therefore, to be moderately heated by means of hot-water pipes or otherwise, so as to prevent cold draughts. The passages and lobbies round the house should also be heated in the same way, so that any air drawn in to the house may be properly tempered.

An attempt has been made in Paris, of late years, to obviate the great heat and draught caused by the center lustre, by doing away with the lustre, and making the ceiling partly of glass, with powerful lights and reflectors behind the glass in the roof. This mode of lighting is, however, of rather a subdued character for a theater, although very appropriate to such chambers as the House of Commons, where it acts admirably. In Paris, they have also tried to supply fresh air from the gardens outside by means of a large tube, from which numerous small tubes branch. The theater built at Baireuth in 1876 for Wagner, and designed to carry out his views as to dramatic representation, has various devices for heightening the dramatic illusion; the orchestra, for example, being beneath the level of the stage, and wholly invisible to the spectators.

There is a class of theaters in Germany which have a double auditory, one at each end of the stage. One of these auditories is arranged and lighted in the usual manner, and is called the Winter Theater. The other auditory is called the Summer Theater, and is so arranged that performances maybe represented in daylight during the summer season. It is lighted by large windows in the outer wall, which corresponds in form to the interior curves of the galleries, and also by windows in the roof.

The new Grand Opera of Paris, opened in 1875, is admittedly the finest theater in the world; it was built by government at a cost of upwards of 36,000,000 of francs. Its auditorium is, however, seated only for 2200 persons.

The art of dramatic representation has undergone great changes. In ancient Greece, partly from the character of the subjects selected, and partly from the origin of the drama itself, costume and acting were conventional, artificial, and stereotyped. On this point, we quote the words of Witzschel, who has written a Handbook for Students on the Athenian Stage (Eng. transl. by Paul; ed. by T. K. Arnold, Loud. 1850): ‘ There can be no doubt,’ says he, ‘ that the somewhat fantastic costume which was handed down without any change from one generation of actors to another was closely connected with the religious character of their tragic performances. The peculiar fashion and brilliant colors of the tragic wardrobe belonged rather to the Dionysian solemnities than to the stage. That Æschylus, by whom the greater part of it was invented, kept steadily in view the original intention of tragedy, is evident from the notices which we find in ancient writers of his theatrical dresses having been worn in other religious ceremonies and processions. It is only reasonable to suppose that he would have given to the tragic stage a wardrobe of a very different description, had he not been influenced by the conviction, that theatrical performances were in some sort a religious ceremonial. Another proof of the feeling generally entertained on this subject may be found in the ridicule with which Aristophanes overwhelms Euripides for introducing his heroes, not only in pitiable situations, but in dirty, ragged, and beggarly weeds, to the great disgust of all true-hearted Athenians, and the utter annihilation of tragic ideality. In the Acharnenses, the whole of the tragic poet’s squalid wardrobe is held up to public derision.

‘ The tragic costume for male characters of the highest rank consisted of an embroidered tunic with sleeves, which, in the older personages, reached to the feet (chiton poderes), and in the younger to the knees. Over this was thrown a green pall, or long mantle (Gr. surma, Lat. palla), which also reached to the feet, and was richly ornamented with a purple and gold border. Persons of high but not royal rank wore a shorter red mantle, embroidered with gold, which was partially covered by a richly-embroidered, high-fitting scarf. Soothsayers wore over the tunica kind of network, composed of woollen threads. A sort of waistcoat (kolpoma) was also worn over the tunic. This was the costume of powerful and warlike sovereigns, such as Atreus, Agamemnon, &c. Dionysus (Bacchus) appeared in a purple tunic, which hung negligently from an embroidered shoulder-knot, and a thin, transparent, saffron-colored upper robe, with a thyrsus in his hand. Even Hercules himself was not the athletic hero of the old mythology, with a lion’s skin thrown loosely round his muscular limbs, but a solemn, theatrical personage, enveloped in a long mantle. The costume of a queen was a flowing purple robe, with a white scarf; and for mourning, a black robe, and blue or dark yellow shawl. Persons in distress, especially exiles, wore dirty-white, dark-gray, dingy-yellow, or bluish garments. …. To increase their height, the tragic performers wore the cothurnus, a sort of buskin, with high soles and still higher heels, which compelled them to walk with a measured and sounding tread, and a top-knot of hair, or toupet (Gr. ongkos), suitable to the age and condition of the character represented. A corresponding breadth of figure was produced by means of padding and by a sort of glove. Thus equipped, the tragic hero seemed a giant as compared with ordinary mortals. Lastly, they had the mask, a part of the ancient theatrical costume, which seems to us so strange and unnatural. For its meaning and origin, we must go back to the Dionysian festival, at which the excited crowd were wont, in honor of the jolly god, to smear their faces with lees of wine; and at a later period, when, dramatic interludes were attempted, with vermilion, or to cover their cheeks with rude masks of bark.

‘ In the course of time, these primitive inventions were discarded, and their place supplied by linen masks, characteristically painted. For the sake of retaining this uncouth but distinctive appendage of the Dionysian festival, the Greeks were content to forego the delicate expression of feeling and eloquent play of features which are indispensable to a modern actor; but on the other hand, when we remember the enormous size of their theaters, which scarcely permitted the assembled thousands to hear what was said by the actors, still less to distinguish their features, we are forced to acknowledge that the practice of wearing masks was rather an advantage than an inconvenience.’ The above description is, in the main, applicable to the Roman as well as the Greek theaters. The only additional point which it is necessary to notice is that, among the ancients, the acting of plays was not (as it is now) a regular and daily, but only an occasional affair, at festival seasons and the like. With the fall of the Western Empire, the disappearance of classic paganism and classic tastes, and the triumph of the christianized barbarians of the north and east, theatrical performances ceased. But the liking for such things is not artificial; it is natural and irrepressible; and gradually, as the ancient culture resumed something of its former sway, efforts were made, not, indeed, to re-enact the majestic tragedy of Greece (for its language was scarcely known), or the pungent comedy of Rome, but to throw into dramatic form the ‘ mysteries,’ ‘miracles,’ and ‘moralities’ of the Christian religion. The rudeness of these medieval plays may perhaps suggest to us what Greek performances were before the days of Thespis. In fact, they were introduced as a means of edifying, as much as of amusing the ignorant laity, were customarily the work of monks, and were performed on festive occasions in the churches. It does not, however, appear that they were accompanied by any scenic representations. A raised wooden stage like that which forms the front of a traveling show, was all that the untutored taste of the times demanded. Nor are we to suppose for a moment that the slightest attention was paid to propriety of costume or speech. The personages rather than the actions, the ceremony rather than the dialogue, the moral rather than the matter, were the things looked to, and hence no subtle or artistic representation of life and character was possible.

The development of the Modern Drama (q. v.) ultimately re-stored the art of the actor to its ancient dignity and importance; but it was long before those changes took place that gave theatrical performances their modern character. Good acting—that is to say, skilful impersonation of character and varied elocution—became quite common in England after the Restoration, and was not unknown before it; but appropriate costume and scenery were scarcely thought of until the time of Talma (q. v.), towards the close of last century. Since then, the best theaters have displayed a most creditable desire to reproduce, with something like verisimilitude, the outward ‘form and pressure,’ the garb, deportment, and air of the age represented.

The employment of female actors is of French origin, and dates from the first half of the 17th c.; but they were not permitted (without molestation) to tread the English stage till 1661. Before this innovation, female parts were performed by youths; and though it ill consorts with our ideas of adequate representation to conceive the parts of Desdemona, Ophelia, Cordelia, &c., executed by those of another sex, it would appear that several actors obtained a wonderful success in this line.

The title of ‘ His Majesty’s Servants,’ which English actors once bore, originated in the fact that some of them were really members of the royal household. The king and particular nobles kept troops of actors for their own pleasure, whom they sometimes permitted to go about the country and perform. The first prince we read of that gave his ‘ servants ‘ such permission, was Richard, Duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III.). In Queen Elizabeth’s time (1571), the Earl of Leicester’s ’servants ‘ were licensed to open the first licensed theater in England, and it is owing to the circumstances of actors having originally formed part of the household of the king that a license from the Lord Chamberlain is still necessary to the opening of a theater.—For an anecdotical and amusing history of the English stage, see Their Majesties’ Servants, by Dr. Doran (1865); see also Button. Cook’s Book of the Play (1876).

THEO’DOLITE (Gr. theao, I see, dolichos, long), an instrument much employed in land-surveying for the measurement of angles horizontal and vertical, is neither more or less than an altitude and azimuth instrument, proportioned and constructed so as to be conveniently portable. Like all instruments in very general use. the variations in its construction are almost numberless; but its main characteristics continue unaltered in all forms. It consists essentially of two concentric circular plates of copper, brass, or other material (the upper plate, or upper horizontal, either being smaller, and let into the lower, or lower horizontal, or the rim of the lower raised round the outside of the upper), moving round a common axis, which, being double, admits of one plate moving independently of the other. Upon the upper horizontal rise two supports, bearing a cross bar, which is the axis of a vertical circle moving in a plane at right angles to the former. This latter circle either has a telescope fixed concentric with itself, or a semicircle is substituted for the circle, and the telescope is laid above, and parallel to its diameter. The circles, as their names denote, are employed in the measurement of horizontal and vertical angles. For these purposes, the outer of the horizontal circles is graduated, and the inner carries the index-point and the Verniers (q. v.); the vertical circle is also graduated, and the graduations are generally read off by an index-point and vernier firmly attached to the supports. The upper horizontal is furnished with two levels placed at right angles to each other for purposes of adjustment, and has a compass-box let into it at its center. The stand consists of a circular plate supported on three legs, and connected with the lower horizontal by means of a ball-and-socket joint; the horizontal adjustment of the instrument being effected by means of three or four (the latter number is the better) upright screws placed at equal distances between the plates.

The telescope is so fixed as to be reversible, and the adjustments are in great part similar to those of other telescopic instruments, but are too numerous and minute to be here detailed. Both horizontal plates being made, by means of the screws and levels, truly level, the telescope is pointed at one object, and the horizontal angles read off; it is then turned to another object and the readings-off from the graduated circle again performed; and by the difference of the readings, the angular horizontal deviation is given; and when vertical angles are required, the readings are taken from the vertical circle in a similar manner.

INDIGE’STION, or DYSPE’PSIA, is term somewhat vaguely applied to various forms of disease of the stomach or of the small intestines in which the natural process of digesting and assimilating the food is deranged.

The symptoms of indigestion are by no means constant in all cases. There is often anorexia (or want of appetite), but occasionally the appetite is excessive, and even ravenous. Nausea not unfrequently comes on soon after a meal; while in other cases, there is no nausea, but after the lapse of a couple of hours, the food is vomited, the vomited matters being very acid, and often bitter, from the admixture of bile. In severe cases, the vomiting has been known to occur after every meal for several months. Flatulence, relieving itself in eructations, is one of the standard symptoms of this affection, the gas that gives rise to this symptom being sometimes evolved from undigested matters in the stomach, and sometimes being apparently secreted by the walls of that viscus. It is very apt to occur in dyspeptic patients if they have fasted rather longer than usual. Cardialgia (popularly known as heartburn), Pyrosis (q. v.), or water-brash, and Gastrodynia (commonly designated spasm or cramp of the stomach, and coming on at uncertain intervals in most severe paroxysms), are other somewhat less common symptoms of indigestion.

The treatment of indigestion is more dietetic than medicinal. The quantity of food which can be dissolved by the gastric juice and intestinal fluids being limited (see DIGESTION), 1′are should be taken that this quantity is not exceeded; moreover, the meals should not succeed each other too rapidly. Mr. Abernethy, who was a great authority on this subject, laid great stress on the principle, that the stomach should have time to perform one task before another was imposed upon it, and he always recommended his patients to allow six hours to intervene between any two meals. With regard to the nature of the food best suited to dyspeptic persons, it may be safely asserted that a mixture of well-cooked animal and vegetable food is in general more easily digested than either kind taken exclusively. Mutton, fowls, and game are the most digestible kinds of animal food; and pork and all cured meats, such as salted beef, ham, tongue. &c., should lie avoided. Raw vegetables, such as salads, cucumbers, &c., must also be prohibited. In most cases, dyspeptic persons would probably do well to avoid all stimulating drinks; but in some cases, a little cold, weak brandy and water, or a glass of old sherry, or a little bitter ale, may be taken with advantage. But upon all points of eating and drinking a sensible patient must be mainly influenced by his own experience. The unquestionable benefit which dyspeptic patients often derive from a visit to a hydropathic establishment is due perhaps not so much to any specific action of the water, as to the well-regulated diet, the withdrawal of the mind from personal cares, and the change of scene. A six weeks’ or two months’ tour among the mountains of Scotland or Switzerland will in the same way often do a dyspeptic patient more good than he could have experienced from any amount of physicking at home.

A few words must be said regarding the mode of treating the most urgent of the individual symptoms. Loss of appetite may be remedied by the employment of bitters, such as quinine, gentian, chiretta, &c., or of mineral acids, or of both combined. Nausea and vomiting may be treated with hydrocyanic acid, chloroform, and creosote in very small doses. Two or three drops of dilute hydrocyanic acid in an effervescent draught are often an effectual remedy. In intense vomiting, the amount of food taken at a time must be reduced to the lowest possible limit. A tablespoonful of milk, mixed with lime-water, will sometimes remain on the stomach after all other kinds of food have been rejected. There is no better remedy for flatulence than peppermint-water; if it fails, a drop of cajeput oil on a lump of sugar may be tried. When the eructations are attended with an odor of rotton eggs—that is to say, when sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved from the decomposition of matters in the stomach—an emetic is the best cure. The remedies for the pain in the stomach vary with the character of the pain; bismuth, nitrate of silver, and opium are often serviceable, but should not be taken without advice. A teaspoonful of the aromatic spirit of ammonia in a wineglass of camphor-mixture, often gives instantaneous relief, audit not too often resorted to, can be taken with impunity.

INDIANS, AMERICAN. The name American Indians, applying, as it does, to all the tribes which inhabited the New World when it first became known to Europe, and to their descendants since that date, originated in a geographical misconception that this New World was but the projection or extension of India or the east of Asia, and that consequently the natives were sto-graphically connected with the people of the East Indies. The islands between North and South America were, accordingly, the ‘West Indies.’ The western hemisphere has not been lucky in the naming either of the country itself, or its aborigines.

The origin of the American race or races is still a much-vexed and unsettled question. The theory, having hitherto, perhaps, had the balance of repute in its favor, derives them from Asia. ferrying them across Behring Strait. In the Swedish Polar expedition (1878-79), Prof. Nordkensjold traced in the Tchuktchis, on the north-east coast of Siberia, an ‘ unmistakable stamp of the Mongols of Asia, and the Eskimo and Indians of America.’ Lieutenant Palander of the same expedition, however, assimilates those Tchuktchis to the Greenland Eskimo, while Peschel groups them with the native tribes of Kamtchatka. The Samoyedes and other Arctic races of Asia, it is further pointed out, are of Mongoloid stock, and distinctly round-headed; while the Eskimo, next to the Kai Colos of Fiji, are the longest-headed race on the globe.

The derivation of the American races in whole or in part from Chinese, Japanese, or other Asiatic arrivals on the western seaboard, is attended with at least equal difficulties; for where are any affinities between such emigrants and the American races in language, customs, arts, modes of life? The latter, at the time of their discovery, had neither rice, wheat, barley, oats, or rye; nor iron; nor horse, sheep, camel, or poultry; all which, since then, propagate and flourish in the New World. The natives were found cultivating only maize, squashes, plantains, cassava, potato, tobacco. They had but one poor beast of burden, the llama, confined to the uplands of South Cordilleras, and one species of dog unrepresented in the Old World. Their knowledge of metals was limited to copper, bronze, lead, gold, and silver.

The language of the red men, furthermore, is generically different from all Asiatic languages; from the Indo-Chinese monosyllabic character, from the agglutinating Ural-Altaic, from the inflexional Semitic and Aryan; it is, in fact, a product purely and wholly of America, without any Old World affinities or analogies whatsoever describable as polysynthetic or hugely agglomerative, expressing a whole sentence sometimes in a seventeen-syllabled word. This character applies to all their 760 inextricably intermixed languages. Then their physical, and for the most part their mental traits also are, as an ensemble, all their own. Their hair is universally black, straight, glossy, and long, never wavy, persistent to old age, properties characterizing also the hair of the mummies of the Ancon necropolis, and other places of Peru; the beard very scanty, generally wholly, sometimes only partially, rooted out; the eyes small, deep-set, always horizontal, soft, partially closed and languid when not roused by passion, and overset by narrow and high-arched eyebrows; the brow itself, broad and low, receding in a very remarkable degree towards the flat crown; the cheek-bones broad and prominent; the nose also prominent and sensitive, often very long and aquiline; the hands delicate and long-fingered, soft and smooth like the silken skin of the whole body; the whole lire supple, elastic, shapely, and agile. The features are generally regular, and often handsome. The Crows, in particular, six feet high, with exceedingly long hair reaching to the ground, and in some cases measuring 10 feet (all of a piece), are described as decidedly handsome, or even noble. The women, with their soft luscious figures, dark soft eyes, delicate hands, and altogether feminine characteristics, are said to be not without their sensuous attractions. In complexion they are mostly of a copper, cinnamon brown, or olive-yellow hue, though there are also many varieties, merging on one side into the deep, almost negro tint of the Guaicuri and Pericui of Lower California, and the Charruas of Uruguay; and on the other side into the almost brilliant blonde of the Mandans and Hydas (Queen Charlotte islanders). The body lithe, swift, and supple, is yet not so strong generally as that of the European or Negro type, nor capable of so much hardship, fatigue, or enduring strain. In stature, the races range from the dwarfish Eskimo and the Peruvian, with a mean height of 4 feet 9 inches, to the 6-foot Crow and the gigantic Patagonian. Physically, the North American in his native state is peculiarly haughty, serious, habitually taciturn and grave, yet on occasion eloquent and naively imaginative; full of simple childlike wonderment and trustfulness till suspicion has been aroused; with plenty of slumbering passion, which excited becomes overmastering; in warfare stealthy, soft-paced, cunning, treacherous, with unslakable fury of revenge when the enemy is in his clutch; yet remarkably cold and stoical in outward manner, suffering with proud nonchalance the utmost extremity of fate. Altogether, he is somewhat of a sad, soft, serious, passionate, pathetic personage.

All signs, then, would seem to favor the theory that the native Americans are as indigenous to the country as are its peculiar fauna and flora; or at all events, if they did originally issue from Asia, it must have been in a most remote pre-historic time.

When the country was discovered, the most civilized parts were those extending from New Mexico to Peru, the best specimens of architecture being found in the Maya region and in Peru. The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico had towns surrounded by high walls scaled by ladders. There was also in Mexico a system of picture-writing, and there they boasted of records to a remote date. The Peruvians used quipos or knotted cords as aids to memory. In this quarter was also a more or less constituted government by kings and hereditary chiefs. Outside this region, the only monuments are mounds, principally in the Ohio valley, of peculiar shape, apparently symbolical. All beyond, the native races in numberless, widely-scattered, small-clustered tribes and clans, roamed their primeval forests of oak and pine, of cotton-wood and pecan, and the immeasurable prairies; subsisting chiefly by the chase, hunting the droves of buffaloes, the elk, the antelope, trapping beavers, &c. They had attained to marvelous swiftness and precision of movement. From his horse at full gallop the Indian will shoot you 15 or 20 arrows a minute at flying buffaloes, all with sure aim and deadly effect. The Gauchos and other mixed races of South America, at the present day challenge the world in horsemanship. They will swing themselves under the belly of the horse, hang on there with toe and heel, while the horse is in full chase, then bound aloft on its back again at wire. The Indians are almost all hunters armed with bow and arrow, with spear and dart; in South America, with lassoes, and stoneballs attached to hide-ropes. In their wild state, they live in wigwams, of bark among the Iroquois, but generally of hides among the other tribes. They, especially the Crows, are highly skilled in dressing skins. Their own clothing consists of a robe and leg-covering for the men, and a short petticoat for the women, though in some warm places the clothing is very scanty. Some of the tribes dress richly and picturesquely. A chief is arrayed in a shirt or tunic made of two deerskins, and embroidered with porcupine quills and the hair of scalps. Over this is a robe of the skin of the young buffalo-bull, with the hair remaining on, liner or flesh side garnished with porcupine quills, and a rude portrayal of the battles or events of the wearer’s life. The legs are encased in deerskins, also ornamented, and the feet shod in moccasins of buckskin.

All the tribes are fond of painting and tattooing their bodies, figures being varied for grief or joy, for war or peace. The use of tobacco is almost universal, and a chief boasts a pipe four five feet long and two inches wide, wound with braid of porcupine quills, the bowl ingeniously carved by the chief himself. The calumet is the symbol of peace, and solemnizes all treaties and all great councils. The Indians believe in the Great or Good Spirit, but also in evil spirits particularly needing to be propitiated. The dead are solemnly buried with a supply of food and implements for the next world. One of the great features of Indian life is ‘ medicine’ (the word adopted from the French) or mystery. The ‘ medicine man’ is physician, magician, prophet, soothsayer, juggler, and high-priest. Every respectable Indian has a ‘ medicine bag,’ made of the skin of an animal, bird, or reptile, and elaborately ornamented, stuffed with grass or moss, and religiously closed or sealed. This bag is in the highest degree sacred; days, and even a week of fasting, and sacrifices of dogs and horses being devoted to it. At 14 to 15 a boy is ‘ forming his medicine ‘—that is, he wanders from his father’s house, absenting himself for two, three, sometimes even five days, during which time he lies on the ground crying to the Great Spirit, and fasting all the time. After he has fallen asleep from weariness, the animal he dreams of is his ‘ manitou,’ the protector assigned him by the Great Spirit for life. Having returned home and satiated his appetite, he sallies out with weapons to procure the animal or bird he dreamt of, which he then preserves entire about him through life for ‘good luck.’ In death it is buried with him. To lose it in war or otherwise is to lose one’s honor, which is retrievable only by conquest of the medicine-bag of a tribal enemy. All the Indian religions of North America seem to have arisen out of ancestor worship (see totem). In the science of medicine proper, the Indians have a pretty large empirical knowledge, having particular herbs and appliances for asthma, coughs, diarrhœa, diseases of the skin, &c.

Before acquaintance with Europeans, the Indian beverage was almost exclusively water. In Mexico, however, Pulque (q. v.), the fermented sap of the agave, was drunk, as also in South America a beverage made from fermented cashew and other fruits.

The trained hauteur and stoicism of the Indians is remarkable. One day, during King Philip’s war in New England, a chief ran unawares into the hands of the English. A young official of twenty-two questioning him, the chief refused conversation with him : ‘ You much child, no understand matters of war.’ When sentenced to death, ‘ he liked it well, he would die before his heart was soft, or had spoken anything unworthy of himself.’ Hatuay, a powerful chief of Hispaniola, urged to embrace Christianity before he was burned, and thus go to heaven, refused to ‘go where he would meet any of the accursed Spanish race.’ In a re-union of the most intimate relations and friends, the Indians maintain the coldest reserve, and yet at death the lamentation of the survivors is extreme. In the Far West, and among the Rocky Mountains, where the Indians are yet intact from the whites, they live simply, cleanly, and hospitably. Mr. George Catlin, who lived eight years exclusively among the different tribes of North America—himself evidently of an artless, childlike, silvan nature—looks upon the Indians ‘ as the most honest and honorable race of people I ever lived amongst in my life.’ During all those eight years, he everywhere met the most cordial hospitality, and the kindest offices at their hands, while he ‘ never lost the value of a shilling among them.’

‘ Civilization,’ however, has proved the ruin of the Indian morally and physically. Thirst of revenge, unquenchable hate, loss of self-respect, and whisky, have been the constant heritage (especially in the United States) entailed on the reds by the approach of the whites. The policy of the first English settlers and the United States has all along- been to thrust the Indians ever farther into the west, till now there are no wild tribes east of the Mississippi. The Cherokees and Creeks were bodily removed from Georgia to the Indian Territory in 1838. Virginia had three Indian wars or massacres, 1622, 1629, and again 1676; New England two—the Pequot war, 1637, and King Philip’s war, 1675. The United States policy with the Indians has not been satisfactory or successful, and difficulties and small wars have been frequent. Missions have been largely prosecuted amongst them by individuals and societies. The French and the Spaniards, had missions; and of Protestant missionaries the names of Mayhew, John Eliot, and the Brainerds are conspicuous. The five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory (q. v.) raised (1880) over 3,000,000 bushels of grain, and had 100 schools, and 8500 pupils—industries being taught there and on the other reservations. Nevertheless, as a rule, the Indians recognize their inevitable doom, and all spirit dies out of them. ‘ They are migrating to their fathers and the setting sun.’ In Canada, where there is more room, the Indians still live at peace with the colonists as they did with the French, to the degree even of intermarrying with them. Three towns of Canada are exclusively Indian. The great mass of Spanish Americans are of Indian origin.

In the United States there were in 1880 over 303,000 Indians (and from the census it appeared that the tribal Indians included in that total are on the increase). In Canada there were in 1881 close on 104,000. In North America altogether the Indians are calculated at considerably less than four millions; and in South America, including pure and mixed, about seven millions.

The following is from A. H. Keane’s General Scheme of American Races and Languages:

1. Sub-Arctic Races—Eskimos Aleuts, Thlinkeets.

2. Athabascan or Tinney Family.

3. Algonquin family, from Canada to South Carolina, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. To the northern branch belonged or belong the Chippewas or Ojibways, Ottawas, and Crees; to the eastern, the Abenakis, Penobscots, Mohicans or Mohegans; to the southern, Powhattans, Rappahannocks, Shawnees; and to the western, Illinois, Miamis, Cheyennes, and Blackfeet.

4. Wyandot-Iroquois family, from Upper Canada to West Virginia, surrounded by Algonquins. To them belong Wyandots or Hurons, Iroquois or ‘ Six Nations ‘ (including Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras), and Monocans.

5. Dakota or Sioux family, including Assiniboines, Winnebagoes, Omahas, Iowas, Kansas, Crows.

6. Appalachian Races—Muscogee group, Cherokees, Catawbas, Natchez, &c.

7. Columbian Races.

8. Californian Races.

9. Shoshone and Pawnee families, from Idaho to New Mexico, including Utes, &c.

10. New Mexican and Arizona Races.—Pueblos nations, &c.

11. Mexican Races—Aztec-Sonora group, Miztec, Zapotec, Zacatec, &c.

12. Central American Races.

13. Orinoco Races—Carib family, Barre family, &c:

14. Amazon Races.

15. Peruvian and Bolivian Races.

16. Brazilian Races—Guarani family, Botocudos, &c.

17. Patagono-Chilian Races—Araucanians, Puelches, Tehuelches, Fuegians.